Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!

Friday, August 10, 2018

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #45 Gogyohka, a modern way of writing/creating tanka

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday August 12th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend-meditation. This time I have a nice "trip along memory-lane" feature for you. Maybe you can remember our special feature "Little Ones", a feature in which I introduced other small forms of poetry. For this weekend I have done that too.

Logo Little Ones feature

For this weekend meditation I have chosen a modern way of tanka-writing known as "gogyohka", a poetry form invented by Enta Kusakabe. I had never heard of this poetry form, but as I read about `gogyohka` on the website Finger Printing Eyes of Pat my attention was immediately caught.

Gogyohka is a nice new way of writing - creating tanka and here is how it works:

Gogyohka is a new form of poetry which has been developed in Japan. Gogyohka simply means verse which is written in five lines, but each line generally represents one phrase and has a different feel to five-line verse commonly found in Western poetry.

I wasted time,

and now

doth time

waste

me.

To be

or

not to be,

that is

the question

If you make each short phrase stand alone as a separate line in this way, then you have something a little different to what is generally considered standard 5-line verse in the Western sense.

This new form of verse was developed by a poet calledEnta Kusakabe. The idea was to take the traditional form of Tanka poetry (which is written in five lines) and liberate its structure, creating a freer form of verse. Kusakabe, who was born in 1938, first came up with the concept in 1957. From the 1990s onwards he began his efforts to spread Gogyohka as a new movement in poetry, and there are now around half a million people writing this form of verse in Japan.

There is a long tradition of lay people writing short poetry in Japanese society (currently there are around three million Japanese writing Haiku, one million writing Tanka and one million writing Senryu).

Traditional Tanka is based on a 5,7,5,7,7 syllable pattern. For languages such as English, however, it is difficult to compose verse within these restraints. Non-Japanese Tanka is, therefore, written freely in five lines, like Gogyohka. That is to say, Gogyohka is already being written internationally in the form of Tanka.

While a degree of freedom is inevitable in Tanka, in the case of Gogyohka the freedom of the verse is natural, and this can be used to great effect: the freedom of expression in Tanka is passive, whereas the freedom in Gogyohka is active and vibrant.

Kusakabe believes that all languages share an inherent quality, that words are a form of breath which can be uttered and felt. He came to the conclusion that this kind of poetry would work in any language and that writing it would help people to develop their thoughts. He resolved to spread the word about Gogyohka around the world.

There are a few people in New York who have already joined the Gogyohka cause, so Kusakabe decided to begin his global mission there.

◇Here is an example of a Gogyohka.

What kind of

stained glass

have your

rose-coloured cheeks

passed through

Enta Kusakabe

It's a wonderful kind of poetry I think, but I couldn't come up with a good "gogyohka", because I have to dive somewhat deeper in this matter. Therefore it's a great idea to make the "gogyohka" the theme for this weekend-meditation.

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday August 12th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until August 19th at noon (CEST). Have a great weekend.

4 comments:

I just wanted to say "thanks" for the "shout out" Chèvrefeuille; I'm glad that you've decided to feature this newer form, the gogyohka.

I'm still wrapped up in trying to tease its essences, myself - I'm beginning to appreciate the subtleties of it - because what seems rather simple and straightforward at first, isn't quite so, (laughing) as I've come to discover, when working with it for most of the Summer Retreat. It's definitely a form I think has wonderful potential.

there is another form, although not "officially" recognized, called: Gogyoshi.

Gogyoshi is a Japanese form of poetry invented by Taro Aizu. Gogyohka predates it – Enta Kusakabe came up with the concept in 1957 and actively started promoting it in the 1990s. And for some reason, gogyohka is “recognized” as an “official” type of Japanese poetic form, whereas, gogyoshi isn’t. (and no, I have no idea why). Although similar, very similar, there are subtle differences. I think part of what contributes to the “confusion” is the closeness in names. In my thoughts though, they are both equally fascinating.

and maybe as a few more thoughts of interest here, for your discovery about Gogyoshi:

Basho (1644-1694) once said:

[...] “When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.” [...]

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Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Carpe Diem is the place to be if you like to write and share haiku (or another Japanese poetry form like e.g. tanka). It's a family of haiku loving poets.Japanese poetry is known as the impression of a short moment, say a heartbeat or an eye-blink, in which nature plays an important role.It's free to participate in Carpe Diem. By participating in Carpe Diem, you agree with the use of your work in the exclusive e-book series of Carpe Diem.Of course your work will be credited as Carpe Diem always does. However all the texts and works at Carpe Diem are copyrighted and the rights belong to the authors.

March 20th 2016

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